Where better to find such a fine example of an illuminated T than in a book all about the art of illuminating? A practical treatise on the art of illuminating : with examples, chromographed in fac-simile and in outline, of the styles prevailing at different periods, from the sixth century to the present time was published in 1873. It is full of wonderful examples of fancy letter images, vignettes and other page design elements.
There are already a number of other images from this book on Reusable Art and in time, there will be even more. This illuminated T has a number of interesting images. It has four bird heads, a lyre or harp and a foot. I would guess one of the heads and the foot are part of a griffin or some other sort of mythological beast. The letter T is further decorated with swirls, stripes and circles. It’s one of those complex designs that almost every time you look it over you see something new.
It’s fairly tall for a fancy letter or drop cap image but you could easily use it in a smaller size or make it part of an embroidery or other design that takes advantage of the large size.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
